Little Girl Lost
by cloudofcalm
Summary: Fred might have gone, but did y'know her great aunt was a hooker, and her daddy wanted her to be Miss Texas? Or that she could recite her favourite fairy tale?


A/N: So I saw the Illyria ep, and I snuffled. Blame Britain, we don't screen the eps until weeks after. So I decided to write a Fred history, from her name, all the way through to her graduate placement. Each chapter is pretty much a stage on, though if plot does develop, I'll stay with Fred the same age for a bit.  
  
*  
  
"She's beautiful," he breathed, hardly able to believe his eyes, a smile both proud and bashful lighting up his face. "You're a momma now."  
  
She lifted back the pink waffle blanket, and counted the tiny, curling red toes, her lips moving silently. "Ten," she whispered, looking back up, her eyes wide with wonder. "She's perfect."  
  
"Well we knew that from the moment she waved in the sonogram," he teased, carefully extending a finger to touch the tiny hands of the newborn. The baby opened eyelids so thin they were nearly transparent, and stared at him, a quizzical expression in the barely focusing blue eyes.  
  
"She knows you're her Daddy," the woman laughed delightedly, cradling the baby more comfortably against her chest. 'See, darlin'. That's your Daddy."  
  
The baby pursed her lips, as if to say that that situation was just fine with her, yawned, then closed her eyes, falling asleep once more.  
  
"What are we gonna call her, Momma?" he asked, slipping an arm around her shoulders, gazing down at the newborn. She smiled.  
  
"We gotta name her after someone," she reasoned, meeting his eyes with her own laughing brown. "We got enough females in the family. Your sister was hintin' something awful."  
  
"No baby of mine is named Sue-Ann," he stated categorically, frowning. "My baby is just too darn pretty."  
  
"How 'bout my grandma?" she queried, stroking the miniature knuckles of the baby. "Janey."  
  
"Our daughter gotta be something classic," he replied firmly. "Nothin' faddy. We don't wanna call her something she's gonna hate us for."  
  
"Janey is classic," she argued back lightly. "What do you suggest, Ellen?"  
  
"Hell no," he widened his eyes as far as he could. "Ellen? You want to call our little beauty queen of a daughter, Ellen? I cannot see that on the sash sayin', 'Miss Texas'." He spread his hands wide in the air, dreamily.  
  
"She ain't even two days old yet," she drawled, raising one eyebrow as only loving mothers can, faced with a father planning castles in the air.  
  
"Not Ellen," he proclaimed, folding his arms. "You sure pick the nice ones."  
  
"Annie?"  
  
"Too Oklahoma. People'll be askin' where her guns are."  
  
"You have not seen that musical, have you?"  
  
"No," he admitted, a little sheepishly. "But it's too simple. She gotta be the only one in her class named it, or they'll mix her up. No daughter of mine will be mixed up with anyone else," he said proudly.  
  
"Hmm," she tapped her finger lightly on her jaw, thinking it over. "Marie."  
  
"Darn it, woman, it's gotta be unusual, but classic. People name the darn cows Marie."  
  
"Well I'm trying," she shot back. "You suggest 'em. And we can't not name her after a relative, or they'll be linin' up with long faces. Your daughter won't end up goin' to the family reunion."  
  
"What about your aunt?" he ventured, "Y'know, the one from New Jersey. Her name's real pretty."  
  
"Yeah, if you're lookin' for a good time in a motel," she shook her head in disbelief. "How'd you think that uncle picked her? She's never been back since they stayed with Mom."  
  
"I always knew yours was the weird side of the family," he muttered darkly. "We're never passin' that information on to anyone, y'hear?"  
  
She giggled. "Names?"  
  
*Several hours later*  
  
"So you're sayin' we don't have one relative with a pretty enough name for our girl?" she demanded, slightly incredulous. He nodded, very definitely.  
  
"Now you listen up, Burkle," she ordered, and he grinned a little bit. When she called him by his surname, their surname, it always meant she was in control. It inevitably meant kissing.  
  
"We need a name for this little darlin'," she finished. "And you're gonna pick a name, from our relatives, or so help me Lord, you'll find yourself doin' all the midnight feeds, and little Miss Burkle will go nameless."  
  
"I'm sorry, darlin'," he shrugged. "If you can tell me one more name, I'll promise you I'll take it. Anythin's better than," he made a disgusted face, "Patty."  
  
She smiled, oh so sweetly, and kissed him on the cheek.  
  
"Don't you want to say hello to your daughter?" she asked him, innocently, passing him the baby. "She's named after your great-aunt."  
  
His eyes met her, in an expression of surprise. "Darlin'-"  
  
"Say hello to the world, Winnifred," her mother said, very softly, stroking the baby's downy head.  
  
*  
  
A/N: Hee. Fred has weird family. Please review!! 


End file.
